


Red Rōnin

by BunnyJess



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days
Genre: America, Angst, Depression, Dexter Soy created an awesome redesign, Discovering yourself, Fluff, Healing, HiC is ignored, I totally used it here, Japan, Love, M/M, Mentor/Protégé, Nightmares, Post RHatO#25, Redesign, Roy is awesome, Travel, mental health, minor description of injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 09:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16281929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess
Summary: Roy swoops in and rescues Jason after Batman beats him on a roof. This is the story of how Jason healed and remade his alias with the help of an old mentor and Roy.





	Red Rōnin

**Author's Note:**

> I've used Dexter Soy's Red Rōnin in this because it is gorgeous!

As Roy looked his best friend over he swore Bruce to hell and back. He couldn’t help it. The man had beaten his own son worse than he’d beat most criminals. Jason was bloody and covered in injuries that just kept fuelling Roy’s anger. The man who’d taken Jason in, who’d become his father, who’s mourned his death and grown to love the man who’d returned; had ignored all of Jason’s past with Willis and beaten him worse than the criminal ever had.

Roy knew if he hadn’t gotten there when he did that Jason would have been much worse. He’d not fought back. He’d just watched him teammates potentially die trying to save thousands of people who lived in the very city Batman _claimed_ to protect. Jason had been letting his _father_ drag him along despite the pain, emotionally and physically, that he was in. Roy had struggled to get Jason back to his bike and then had to tie them together to get him out of Gotham and to somewhere safe.

It took six weeks for all the physical injuries to heal and during that time Roy saw Jason struggling more than he’d ever seen when they’d been together as the Outlaws and RedArse. Nightmares that once consisted of crowbars, clowns, laughter, and burning green liquid; now consisted of father figures beating them harder than they’d ever been hit while they were beaten to death, of black capes and dead teammates, of being shown how little he really mattered to his family. The screams were different, the sobbing was harder and louder, the desire to destroy his body was worse than Roy ever remembered it being for himself.

Jason had spent most of his days slumped in a chair in Roy’s workshop then his nights screaming into the dark. Roy would wake up in the mornings curled around the ex-Robin after he’d pad into Jason’s room during the night to soothe the nightmares. They’d pooled the money they had, Jason accessing accounts from his crime lord and League of Assassins days that he’d not touched since returning to Gotham, to buy a warehouse and deck it out like they’d had before. The project gave Jason something to focus on while he was recovering and now he was healed physically he had a safe home to recover mentally. He provided a voice in Roy’s ear, jokes and scathing remarks coming in an almost continuous stream, while the archer was patrolling the coastal city they’d settled in.

It took almost a year for the bug that’d bitten them all, the need to be a hero, settled into an unyielding itch under Jason’s skin. He finally felt ready to return to helping the world. Roy, as usual, had a million ideas for his new suit and look. All Jason knew was that he wanted more body armour that was still moveable and a helmet that wouldn’t shatter if Bruce kicked him in the head _again_.

Roy started drawing up blueprints for his new hood. It integrated with his suit better than before and the neck protection seamlessly joined with it. He would be able to talk face-to-face if he wished by just flipping up the faceplate instead of taking the whole thing off. The tech that Roy built into it was beyond anything Jason was able to think up. He had so many different types of vision, could scan CCTV images, and a thousand other things. Jason was pretty sure that Roy had turned the hood into a smartphone/supercomputer with how much he’d put into it.

While his hood was being made Jason reached out to contacts he’d not spoken with in a few years. They were masters of their craft and he wanted the best when it came to his weapons. After a few emails and calls back and forth, Roy and Jason ended up flying out to Japan to meet with them.

His Sensei pulled him into a hug and greeted him like a long lost family member. Animated conversation left Roy feeling amused but lost. He’d always struggled with Japanese, it’d gotten better when he’d been travelling with Jason before but it was so rusty now that he was as lost as he’d been during their first trip to the country together.

Later that day, once Jason’s Sensei had ensured they were settled in and would be home for dinner then a spar, the pair went out to meet with Jason’s weapon makers. He ordered four swords; all had intricate designs near the hilt, two were shorter and the blades were the same red as his hood. The other two would be strapped to his back ready to be pulled out when he really needed them.

Roy also spoke with the makers to ensure that the swords hilt could be interfaced with Jason’s gloves meaning only those he approved could use them. In the end the blades were a combination of traditional Japanese methods and Roy’s technology. They were similar to the sword the Day Walker from Blade in terms of preventing others from using them. Large spikes that would rotate around the hilt would come out if the user wasn’t approved.

Jason had laughed when Roy suggested it, until he mentioned the look on Bruce’s face if he ever tried to take them off him. Jason had been in such a good mood when they returned home that his Sensei commented on it. She’d been worrying about her student as she’d seen how much he was struggling with returning to fighting.

Jason found an old leather jacket in a charity shop in London during a holiday the pair took. They’d been milling around aimlessly just enjoying the sights when he saw it in a window. When they got back to their home he shredded the bottom and around the shoulders, removing the sleeves. It had a hood that he kept to be better able to hide his hood if need be. It was the only big chunk of colour he went for. The rest of his new suit was shades of grey with red accents on the jacket and gauntlets.

While deciding what to call himself he remembered something his Sensei had told him during one of their late night talks after a particularly bad nightmare. She explained about samurai didn’t always have a master and so they were called rōnin. She felt it was a good explanation for what he now was, a free agent without his father. In her opinion Bruce had fallen and failed in the way he attacked Jason. He had clearly been out of Bruce’s favour since he’d come back from death and so didn’t deserve his loyalty.

Jason had such strong connections to the colour red, to the name Red Hood as it’d saved his life after the all the disasters with his resurrection, that he didn’t want to give that up. After mulling combinations and names over for days, without talking to Roy, he gave up and spoke it all through with his closest friend. With Roy’s help Red Rōnin was born.


End file.
